Red
by teroinreadsteroinwrites
Summary: "It's red," I repeated in a whisper, still having difficulty believing it. "Red."


1.) I don't own anything related to Free!

2.) I am not color blind, everything I have written here is based on research and my own assumptions, so please if I terribly screwed something up, let me know, because my number one concern was trying to write this in a way that was non offensive and realistic. If you have tips to make it better, let me here them.

3.) I typed this with new claws, so ignore the minor mistakes. Once I take these nails off and can hit one key without accidentally tapping thirteen others, I will go through and make the necessary corrections.

* * *

"Wake up, Kiddo," my mother said, shaking me awake.

I groaned and buried my face further into my pillows. "No," I whined.

"Birthday or not, you need to get up. It's noon."

I rolled over and looked up at my mother, who was smiling down at me.

"Morning," she said, smiling down at me.

"Morning," I greeted groggily sitting up and stretching my arms over my head, my actions paired with a yawn.

"Hurry up and get dressed. I'm making lunch and your father can't wait to give you your present," she said.

I sighed getting out of bed. I ran a hand through my knotted hair. I took a shower and got dressed. My parents and I were going to go shopping. I was gonna get my hair and makeup done, and then we were going to go out to eat, were we would meet up with my best friends, and my boyfriend.

My dad was in the living room watching the news. "Happy birthday!" he called.

"Thank you." I headed towards the kitchen, where my mother was sliding pancakes onto a plate. I sat at the island across from her. She slid the plate over laughing as I practically inhaled the syrup covered greatness. Nothing beat my mother's pancakes. Nothing.

Once I was finished, I went to the living room, and flopped on the floor.

"Are you ready for your presents?" my mother asked.

"Yeah! Bring 'em on."

My parents didn't get me much. After all they were taking me shopping later. I did get a crown which I immediately placed on my head.

"What do you think?" I asked, striking a few poses.

"I think it's missing something," my dad said, looking at my mother knowingly.

"Close your eyes," my mother said.

I did as I as I told. There was shuffling. My mother set something down in front of me, then something was placed on my face. I scrunched my face in confusion.

"Open them," she said, finally.

I opened my eyes. Sitting on the white carpet in front of me were two apples. I mean they _were_ apples. Same shape and size. Both had a small little stem sticking out of the top. It was confusing. They were obviously apples, but I couldn't make sense of them. They were- Well I mean they were- Hell I couldn't even describe them. It was like some trick. I had never seen apples like this before. Then it clicked. It wasn't some sort of trick. The apples looked different, because they weren't the usual yellow tones I was used to. I reached up and touched the item on my face. I pulled the glasses off silently. The apples return to their usual hues. I put them back on. The difference was much more shocking. Then it clicked. I had never seen _this_ before.

"Oh my God!" I breathed out, my hand coming to cover my mouth.

My parents were smiling so wide I was afraid their faces were going to be stuck like that.

"What?"

"Well what do you see?" my dad asked.

I lifted the apple on the left, the lighter of the two. "Is this green?" I asked tentatively.

My dad nodded.

"Holy crap!"

It was green. I lifted the apple.

Now I was crying. I had been a red green color blind since I was little. As an infant I had contracted a disease, the medication had some side effects, most notably my inability to see red or green.

"What in the world are these?" I asked.

"They're lenses made to correct colorblindness."

I picked up the other apple. "This is red?" I asked.

"Sure thing, Honey."

"It's red," I repeated in a whisper, still having difficult believing it. I "Red."

I slid the lasses off and stood up, pulling my parents into a hug. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome, Sweet Heart," my dad said.

I pulled back. "I- I-"

"What are you gonna look at?" he asked me.

I wiped my eyes. "I think I want to wait a little while and see Rin."

I knew that his hair was red. I knew that his eyes red. At the same time they matched the leaves of the trees and the grass, which I had been told time and time again was green, as if telling me that the two were different that they were opposites would make the difference visible to me. I knew that he was something special overall, and in this case visually, but I was missing it. Whatever made him stand out to everyone else made him blend in more to me. I thought about the red apple and tried transfer that to Rin, but I couldn't. Hell, aside from my own hand, I hadn't looked at anything human. I was so blown away by the apples that the difference in my own skin tone went under the radar.

In a way I was glad. As selfish as it was. As rude as it was to blow off my parents in favor of my boyfriend, it was him I wanted to see first.

"Or you could go to his house," my mother suggested. "Just don't put them on until you get there. We don't want you to get overwhelmed."

I squealed, nodding. "Promise!" Pecking both of my parent's on the cheek, I took my new glasses and stuck them in their case. I grabbed my keys and phone and took off in a sprint to the Matsuoka house.

I was out of breath when I got there, but anxiously knocked on the door.

Gou pulled it open, which made me even more thankful for my choice to hold off on the glasses. I loved Gou to bits, but she and Rin shared the same red hair and eyes, andI didn't want this spoiled.

"Is Rin home?" I asked.

I'm sure she was caught off guard by my frazzled appearance and excited energy.

"Uh yes. Just a second. Onii-chan!" she called back into the house. "Happy birthday by the way," she said.

"Thanks, Gou. You're still coming to dinner with us right?"

She nodded. "Wouldn't miss it."

"Babe?"

I beamed at Rin as he came down the stairs. Gou took her leave, throwing me a, "see ya."

"Happy birthday," he said, pulling me into a hug, and pressing a kiss to the top of my head. "I thought we weren't doing anything until later?" he asked.

"We aren't butjust really want to see you," I said.

I pulled him through the door way outside. The sun was shining down, and the wind was blowing causing his hair to flutter around his face.

"What are-"

I placed a finger over his lips. "Shhh. Just give me a minute."

I took a step away from him.

Rin awkwardly shoved his hands in his pockets, uttering about me being weird and how lucky I was it was my birthday.

I rolled my eyes sliding the glasses out of their case.

"Sun glasses."

"They're not sun glasses, Rin. They correct my color blindness."

His eyes widened and he took a sharp intake of breath.

"Exactly, so shut up, because the only things I've looked at so far were apples."

"Apples?"

"My mother put them in front of me. I didn't know what was going on." I slid the glasses on my face, closing my eyes. I took a deep breath and opened them.

I would say that it was like a dream, seeing him standing there, but that wouldn't do the moment justice. You dream what you know. Most blind people dream in sounds and feelings. People, who hadn't always been blind are the ones, whose dreams are filled with images. The deaf dream in silence, and people with CIPA dream without pain. Saying that this was like a dream would be a lie, because my dreams could never come up with this.

Rin shifted awkwardly.

I looked over my glasses then through them, over then through. "Oh my goodness," I breathed, choking up.

"You're crying?!" he exclaimed, now flustered.

He looked as if he wanted to step closer, but wasn't sure about it.

I closed the distance between us, holding his face in my hands, which warmed under my touch.

I twirled a stand of hair around my finger, letting it go. My eyes were locked onto his. I was lost in them.

I could see the tears, welling up in his eyes. "You're not supposed to be the one crying," I laughed, wiping away the one tear that slipped away. "Overly sensitive shark," I said, pressing my lips to his. Rin lifted his arms to rest on my waist, pulling me flush against him. My hands fell from his face to his shoulders then around his neck.

"The neighbors can see you!" Gou yelled from the living room window.

Rin and I broke apart, but didn't let go. Instead, I rested my head on his chest. He rested his cheek on the top of my head.

"Stick our head back in the window!" he yelled at her.

"Gou! You're so pretty!" I said upon seeing her.

"So she's pretty huh?" Rin asked.

"You're beautiful," I replied.

He sputtered, obviously embarrassed by my admission.

I chuckled, pulling away. I took a moment to look around me. It was like being in a brand new place. Stop signs and lights popped with a brilliant new urgency. "Whoa!"

I took them off, feeling slightly disappointed, but also relieved, when the world returned to what I was used to. "That is going to take some getting used to."

"I'm sure," Rin agreed.

"I have birthday shopping to do. I will see you later."

Rin pulled me close and kissed me once more. "Happy birthday," he said with that damn shark toothed grin.


End file.
